Building on a foundation of data

Making architecture more sustainable is an important part of fighting climate change –
check
out how new tech is helping us tackle this challenge

Buildings are a massive drain on energy and resources.

In fact, the real estate sector is responsible for more than
20%
of carbon emissions globally. This isn’t surprising given that Britons spend 80% of their time in buildings (you can’t blame them with
weather like
that), using heating, lights and energy-gobbling appliances. At the same time, building
practices
haven’t changed significantly in the last 50 years, leading to ever-rising CO2
emissions
and the waste of raw materials. Politicians have identified this as a major issue. The
UK
Prime Minister Theresa May, for example, recently unveiled her plans to halve building energy usage
by 2030 by committing to new technologies and modern construction practices.

How can we reduce our energy consumption, whilst making sure
that
the power we do consume in buildings, new and old alike, is clean? Here are three
technologies
that are already making waves…

Developing a sixth sense for wasted energy

Heating, air conditioning (AC) systems and lighting account
for
most of a building’s energy use. IoT technology can now cut those loses with the help
of
sensors. The Edge, often described as the greenest building in the
world, for example,
has 28,000 sensors constantly collecting data on everything happening both inside and
outside
the building. Motion sensors detect when a room is empty and automatically shut off the
lights
– no need for old “turn off the lights” signs – and heat sensors adjust the AC to
account
for the warmth of bodies in a space. When taken together, these marginal gains create
huge
savings.

Building ⟶ vehicle ⟶ building

In the future your car could help manage the energy use of
your
house. How? A new technology called “vehicle to building” is being developed by Hitachi
Europe,
Mitsubishi Motors and ENGIE, that will allow electric vehicles to act as a means of energy storage for a building supplied with renewable power.
The charger, the first of its kind,
doesn’t
only direct energy from the building to charge the car, it can also discharge the
energy
back into the building. This means that excess energy created at times of peak
generation
can be stored in the car’s battery and fed back into the building when demand
increases,
mitigating the issue of renewable intermittency.

3D printing robots

Reducing the energy required to run a building is one
challenge;
reducing the energy needed to construct one is another. Building construction is a
time-consuming,
expensive and energy-intensive process. However, the integration of automation into the
construction
industry has the potential to make this a thing of the past – enter 3D printing. A
Ukrainian
start up, for example, has demonstrated how 3D printing robots can print the walls, roof and floor of its
small houses
in just eight hours. This process uses considerably less energy, reducing carbon
emissions,
and the houses themselves are sustainable, powered by solar energy which is stored in a
battery.
Whilst technology such as this is still in its early stages, the possibilities are huge
if
it can be scaled up. Dubai has already outlined its ambitions, announcing that 25% of its new buildings will be constructed using 3D printers
by 2025.

Waste not, want not

Energy efficiency in buildings may not be at the top of the
news
agenda every day, but it is an important issue in the energy transition. After all, we
spend
most of our time in these energy guzzling structures and with the growing global
population,
there is a pressing need for more buildings and energy to power them. So let’s start
getting
it right now and ensure we are embracing the opportunities offered by smart tech to
revolutionise
how buildings operate.